Orioles run afoul of the Yankees in 5

Sabathia pitches New York past Baltimore and into the ALCS

In his first postseason with the New York Yankees, longtime Seattle superstar Ichiro Suzuki delivered an RBI double in the sixth inning of the Yankees 3-1 victory in Game 5 over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday in New York.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals celebrated a dramatic 9-7 come-from-behind Game 5 victory over the Nationals on Friday night in Washington D.C. St. Louis will play the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS.

NEW YORK

CC Sabathia pitched a four-hitter, and the New York Yankees once again came out on the right side of a disputed home run call against the Orioles in October, beating Baltimore 3-1 on Friday in the deciding Game 5 to reach the AL championship series against Detroit.

Nate McLouths bid for a tying homer in the sixth inning was ruled foul by the slimmest of margins. Sabathia hung on in the late innings for his first postseason complete game and defeated the Orioles for the second time in this division series.

The ALCS will open today at Yankee Stadium in N.Y.

Raul Ibañez hit a go-ahead single in the fifth off Jason Hammel, and Ichiro Suzuki added an RBI double in the sixth.

Curtis Granderson boosted it to 3-0 with a second-deck solo homer in the seventh, and the Yankees advanced after their decision to bench slumping third baseman Alex Rodriguez, their $275-million man.

NLDS

WASHINGTON  Doesnt matter how bad things look for the St. Louis Cardinals. Trailing by a bunch, down to their last strike, they simply stay calm and do what it takes to win.

Erasing an early six-run hole in Game 5 slowly but surely, the defending World Series champion Cardinals got a tying two-out, two-run single from Daniel Descalso and a go-ahead two-run single from Pete Kozma in the ninth inning and came all the way back to beat the Washington Nationals 9-7 on Friday night and win their NL division series.

It was the largest comeback ever in a winner-take-all postseason game, according to STATS LLC. No other club in this sort of ultimate-pressure situation had come back from more than four down.

The Nationals finally brought winning baseball back to the nations capital, then collapsed in the postseason in a way that will be tough to live down. Washington sported the best record in baseball during the regular season, but it blew a six-run lead, including its two-run lead in the ninth by giving up four runs.

Orioles run afoul of the Yankees in 5

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

In his first postseason with the New York Yankees, longtime Seattle superstar Ichiro Suzuki delivered an RBI double in the sixth inning of the Yankees 3-1 victory in Game 5 over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday in New York.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals celebrated a dramatic 9-7 come-from-behind Game 5 victory over the Nationals on Friday night in Washington D.C. St. Louis will play the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS.